On Thursday, December 6th at 1017AM we welcomed Lila Gail Dean into the world. I had an elective scheduled c-section because we believed she would be a big baby.
Having a c-section is so much different than a regular birth and not just for obvious reasons. It was great to know what day she would arrive, get up take a shower, put my make up on. On the other hand, it was nerve racking because I knew how many hours and minutes it would be until surgery.
We arrived at 7am and waited two and a half hours for surgery. The prep time actually went faster than I expected it to and at the last minute they almost bumped my c-section for an emergency c-section.
As I walked into the operating room I started to get really nervous and shake. I wanted to run out of there, but had to keep focused that this would be over soon and I'd have my baby girl. The next 15-20 minutes went by very fast and very slow all at once. They had me sit on the edge of the gurney while they put the spinal epidural in. After numbing the area, they started to put the needle in and I felt it so they had to stop to numb it more and from there on I didn't feel anything. My legs were numb within minutes and I was laying on the operating table, shaking.
Once they started surgery, Ken came into the room and I think my eyes told it all. I was scared and the shaking gave it away too. The anesthesiologist told me what they were doing during surgery, minus the bloody details. As they got closer to taking her out I heard the doctor say, "She's a big one" and then "We might need the vacuum" and then within 30 seconds they pulled her out and she started screaming. I immediately started crying because every mother's relief is to hear their babies cry for the first time knowing that they are okay. They showed her to me and Ken over the drape and then took her over to the warmer to weigh her. Ken said he felt torn as to where to go. He went over to be with Lila for awhile.
We spent the next few hours in recovery. I started feeling nausea and eventually threw up which was interesting considering I had just had surgery on my abdomin. Lila nursed for the first time like a pro and we were moved back into a room in Labor & Delivery that we would stay in until a room was ready for us on the Mother & Baby floor.
While in the room Lila started grunting a little and coughing up amniotic fluid. It's very common for c-section babies to get amniotic fluid stuck in their lungs because it hasn't been squeezed out like it would in a regular delivery. They decided to observe her and eventually to admit her to the NICU to make sure all of it came out and promised we would most likely have her upstairs with us by the next morning.
The rest of the day I felt awful. I experienced nausea, incision pain, and was sweating a ton. On top of that my baby was in the NICU without me. Ken stayed with her and by 4pm had a good report. Within an hour of being admitted to the NICU she was having no problems. We were encouraged that she would be with us by the next morning.
I painfully got out of bed and into a wheelchair to go down to the NICU that night around 8pm to feed her. I planned to come back the next morning to feed again because they told us they were giving her nutrients through her IV. I don't know why I didn't wonder what "nutrients" meant. There's only two things that babies can really have for nutrients - formula & breastmilk. We told them no formula & no pacifiers.
Around 1am, 2 hours after Lila should have had her scheduled NICU feeding a nurse called me and said, "Are you going to come feed Lila? She's been screaming for over an hour." Crying I got myself up out of bed and into the wheelchair and we headed down to the NICU to feed her. From then on we had to come to the NICU every 3 hours to feed her and only on the NICU's feeding schedule. By the time I'd finish feeding her and get back to my room 60-90 minutes would have gone by, then it would be time to do it again.
I'll blog about Day 2 in a bit. I need to go feed Lila.
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